


The True Saga of the Zombieland Killjoys

by MagicalComradeMolotovCatgirl



Series: Anarchy in Anime [2]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), Zombieland Saga (Anime)
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Slurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26044876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalComradeMolotovCatgirl/pseuds/MagicalComradeMolotovCatgirl
Summary: "Killjoys, make some noise!"Better Living Industry came to Saga and built Battery City on the backs of its people, making them little more than zombies controlled by the corporation. Dr. Death-Defying brought 7 talented young girls back from the grave to help him open the eyes of the people and sing the songs he wrote in memory of his fallen comrades: the Fabulous Four.
Series: Anarchy in Anime [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861378
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Saga of the Battery City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look alive, sunshine!

#  **Chapter 1: Saga of the Battery City**

They had been driving around for the better part of an hour now, seven girls and a cat crammed into the back of the van. Outside the darkened windows, dozens of cute anime girls stared back at them with big soulless eyes, each adorable yet indistinguishable; they had heard dozens of pop songs streaming out of storefronts and loudspeakers, each of them catchy yet forgettable: mass-produced and mass-consumed.

“What even is this place…?” Sakura broke the increasingly unbearable silence with a simple question.

“Battery City,” the driver, Dr. Death-Defying, said, his expression hidden by the sunglasses. “Saga.”

“It’s nothing like the Saga I knew.” Sakura squinted against the blinding flashes of gigantic screens, the lights of advertisements shine down like the grace of electric gods. “Where are our homes? Families?”

“Torn down and displaced.” Dr. Death-Defying answered. “Just more victims of economic ‘progress’.”

“People must have put up a fight,” Ai said, “Resisting having their home replaced by this Battery City.”

“Fight it? Resist it?” Dr. Death-Defying laughed bitterly. “They wanted it! They practically begged for it! It would bring jobs back, they said, it would make Saga great again, as if it’s ever been great in the first place! And sure enough, it brought many jobs...jobs that pay less than the minimum wages, to push out all the old ma’s and pa’s stores and replace them with the same sterile, corporate altars for the Moloch.”

“So lemme get this straight…” Saki began by cracking her knuckles and stretching her limbs like a cat; beside her, Dr. Death-Defying’s black cat also stretched. “You brought us back as zombies and took us to this god-forsaken city because you want us to...what?” her tone was even - threateningly so, in fact.

“To sing.” Dr. Death-Defying adjusted the rear-view mirror so he could see Saki as he spoke. “When I was younger, everything was clear...we knew what we wanted, who the enemies were. Keep Mom and Dad outta the house, and we can party all night long! But Mom and Dad wised up; instead of trying to stop us from partying, they let us party as much as we want so long as it’s on _their_ terms, and it’s _their_ salsa and punch we’re buying. And all the rabble-rousers, all the so-called Killjoys, what did they do?”

“They sold out!” Dr. Death-Defying growled, raising his deep voice for the first time since the girls met him in their un-lives, which was admittedly not a long time. “They all fucking sold out! It turned out, all the rebels, the Killjoys, the non-conformists, or whatever bullshit names they made up for themselves, they don’t give a fuck whose party it is or at whose expense they’re having the party, so long as they have a party, even a shitty one! Their phony resistance and fake solidarity last only until Mom and Dad put out a new game they want or a new skin for their waifu, then they all bend over and start to lick boots!”

“They all sold out,” Dr. Death-Defying drew in a deep breath to calm himself down while he parked the van and opened the doors to let the girls out. “All except the Fabulous Four: Party Poison, Jet-Star, Fun Ghoul, and Kobra Kid. They died as themselves without selling out their ideals, they gave up their lives for what they believed in, for that one last inch they just couldn’t give up...and they were my friends.”

“So please…” Dr. Death-Defying handed the girls a box of masks, seven of them brand new, identical except for the colors; buried underneath them were fivemore masks, each well-worn and personalized.

“If you sing this song,” Dr. Death-Defying’s voice was pleading, almost praying. “They’ll never die.”

[¬º-°]¬

“ _The future is bulletproof! The aftermath is secondary!_ _”_ Dr. Death-Defying proudly proclaimed as he cranked the volume up to eleven. _“It’s time to do it now and do it loud! Killjoys, make some noise!”_

“ _We’re in the middle of the street!_ _”_ Junko whispered her protest about the choice of venue, gently but urgently. “We’re disrupting traffic! This is hardly the right time and place for a musical performance!”

“This is the perfect time and place!” Dr. Death-Defying crossed his arms. “Just look at all these people!”

So the girls looked, and they saw a people rushing pass each other in the streets, on their way to make more money for their own employers or spend their meager wages to make money for someone else’s employers, shuffling busily from some inscrutable programming like a bunch of mindless zombies.

Oh, the irony!

“Mom and Dad had made a spectacle of our lives, made us mere passive spectators in our own stories, convinced that lived experience and human suffering are nothing compared to what we read online or in a video game.” Dr. Death-Defying spread his hands dramatically. “The problem ain’t that the candies and toys exist, the problem is that Mom and Dad had gotten all the kiddies hooked on their product, so they could tell those spoiled brats how their bullying of certain people is actually fighting the power.”

“And it’s high time we give these selfish motherfuckers a reality check.” he concluded with a lopsided grin and went back to the turntable. _“It’s time to do it now and do it loud! Killjoys, make some noise!”_

“… _Na, na na, na, na na na…”_ slowly, hesitantly, Sakura turned on the microphone on her headset and began to sing, sing it from the heart, sing it out for the ones that’ll hate her guts: _“Na na na, na na na!”_

“I like you, man; you’ve got balls.” Saki told Dr. Death-Defying with a smirk before she too started to sing, sing it ‘till she’s nuts, sing about everyone that she left behind: “ _Na, na na, na, na na na!_ ”

“What, that’s easy!” Lily blinked and turned on her microphone as well. “Even a little baby can do it!”

A i and Junko exchanged a severe look; despite their reluctance to join in what they considered to be an amateur and frankly  disruptive performance, if they didn’t join by the first verse the show would be a complete disaster, since none of the other girls have the skills to carry the whole song by themselves.

Sighing with exasperation and rubbing her temple, Ai turned on her microphone and stepped forward.

“ _...Drugs, gimme drugs, gimme drugs, I don't need it, but I'll sell what you got, take the cash and I'll keep it!”_ when Ai started to sing, sing it for the boys and sing it for the girls, her voice was loud and majestic. _“Eight legs to the wall,_ _h_ _it the gas,_ _kill em' all! A_ _nd we crawl, and we crawl, and we crawl!”_

“ _You be my detonator!”_ Junko sang, 

“ _Love, gimme love,_ _g_ _imme love, I don't need it,_ _b_ _ut I'll take what I want from your heart,_ _a_ _nd I'll keep it in a bag_ _,_ _in a box!_ _”_ Junko decided to sing as well, sing it for the deaf and sing it for the blind, her voice was clear and powerful. _“Put an ‘X’ on the floor,_ _g_ _imme more, gimme more, gimme more!”_

“ _S_ _hut up and sing it with me!”_ Ai sang,

“ _From mall securit_ _y, t_ _o every enemy,_ _w_ _e're on your property,_ _s_ _tanding in V formation!”_ at this point, the girls really _did_ form a V formation centered on Sakura; this was literally the _only_ part of this whole impromptu concert that could be called ‘choreographed’. “ _L_ _et's blow an artery,_ _e_ _at plastic surgery,”_

“ _K_ _eep your apology,_ _g_ _ive us more detonation!”_ the song went, _“More, gimme more, gimme more!”_

[¬º-°]¬

“What, pray tell,” the man in expensive suit asked as he watched the girls in a footage uploaded online, from another unwitting corroborator who paid a handsome price for the privilege to be the agent of a mass surveillance program rebranded as a commercial video sharing platform. “Is this fiasco, Korse?”

The other man in the room – Korse - ran a hand across his bald head, saying nothing; his eyes lingered on the image of Dr. Death-Defying for just a second too long, his expression a mix of guilt and longing.

“I thought all the Killjoys were either bought off or killed off,” the man in the expensive suit said as he checked his equally expensive gold watch. “I paid good money for it...I paid _you_ good money for it.”

“You did, and they were.” Korse said, nodding. “This is just one man and his stupid children’s crusade; it won’t do anything. No one will care about them or listen to them because they don’t have power.”

“That may the case, but I’m not taking any chances; we can’t have people making genuinely subversive art we don’t control.” the man in expensive suit scowled. “it’s time to debut the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W.”

“They will continue to buy shit from you and eat it like ambrosia, do what you tell them and think they are libertarians.” Korse said lowering his head, a trace of bitterness in his voice. “As ever it should be.”

“I am putting you in charge of this.” the man with the expensive watch said. “Do not fail me, Korse.” 

“Your wish is my command.” Korse bowed to the man defined by his expensive belongings: “Samael.”


	2. Saga of the BLInd Consumers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This world is after me, after you!

#  **Chapter 2: Saga of the BLInd Consumers**

Sakura looked out the window of their base of operations, a bunker underneath a series of connected shipping containers. The window, as it was, was actually a screen mounted on the wall, linked to the camera on the ground level. The resolution was so good it felt like she’s looking out through a window, and that little fantasy helped her cope with being a zombie hiding in a glorified underground shelter.

“Something on your mind?” Dr. Death-Defying called out to Sakura as his black cat – Witch, he called her – rubbed her furry head against Sakura’s feet; she reached down to scratch the cat behind the ears.

“The Fabulous Four...your friends.” Sakura frowned as she asked the question; she felt like it was very important to her, but she just couldn’t remember why...or anything at all, really. “How did they die?”

“Ambushed.” Dr. Death-Defying said simply. “Them pigs drove right up to their front door and started shooting. Couldn’t get away because they had this orphaned little girl they were trying to protect.”

“What happened to the girl?”

“Didn’t work. She died too.”

An uncomfortable silence descended upon the two, with Witch’s purring the only sound between them.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Dr. Death-Defying said. “But it wasn’t for nothing. Acts of resistance – _genuine_ acts of resistance, none of those social media posturing bullshit – is never in vain; even if no one ever knows about it, even if it’s a story never told, they were completely free for that one timeless moment, when their defiance is so damn powerful they could stare down Death and laugh in her face.”

“I hope we’ve helped,” Sakura said, “To get their stories told...to make sure they will never really die.”

“You did. You will.” Dr. Death-Defying put a hand onto Sakura’s shoulders and squeezed her gently. “I was just on my way to check on the others; wanna come with?” he thumbed at the general direction.

“Sure.” Sakura nodded and picked up Witch before following him, the kitty nestling in her arms cozily.

[¬º-°]¬

When they arrived at the shipping container they used as a meeting room, Ai and Junko w ere having a rather animated discussion while the rest of the girls looked on with various degrees of awkwardness.

“Idols shouldn’t put themselves on pedestals!” Ai was saying, “You’re a person trying to reach other people – your fans – with your voice and your effort, the relationship should be a reciprocal one!”

“Being on a pedestal is exactly what being an idol means!” Junko countered. “You’re supposed to be someone larger than life, to give your fans something to hope for and something to dream on!”

“Larger than life or holier than thou?” Ai snorted and crossed her arms. “Are we artists or royalties?”

“The royal family is an excellent example of - ” Junko began, but her sentence were cut short by a low and sinister cackling from Tae, whom had done nothing but cackling ever since she was brought back.

“I’m not gonna tell you who’s right and who’s wrong,” Dr. Death-Defying took this chance to interject, “But I want you to consider the fact that the world has changed, and many things you knew were lies created by the powerful to control the weak to begin with; don’t blindly trust authorities just because.”

“Art doesn’t change!” Junko emphasized. “Art is timeless and universal, untouched by petty concerns like politics or business, that’s why it’s divine and perfect and worth dedicating your entire life to!”

“Everything changes!” Ai disagreed. “Art, like everything else, is a product of its time, reflecting the people’s wants and worries in that time, and you know what that means? All art is political, _period_!”

The two of them glared at each other, snorted, and departed toward opposite sides of the meeting room.

“I’ll go after the Bride of Mummy here,” Saki told Sakura and Dr. Death-Defying while indicating the direction Ai had went off to with a curt nod. “You two go and check on Princess Fussypants, okay?”

Sakura and Dr. Death-Defying nodded and departed, leaving Yugiri to stroke Lily’s hair maternally while reassuring the little girl that the lady who was still cackling ominously doesn’t bite. Hopefully.

“Crown Prince…” Tae muttered under her breath, too quiet for anyone else to hear. “...Dynamites!”

[¬º-°]¬

“So I have been wondering…” Saki began when she found Ai going over the music sheets and other materials in the other container. “What’s with the Bride of Mummy look? With all the bandages?”

“...It’s to do with the way I died.” Ai said reluctantly. “I’d rather not talk about it. I don’t want my life – even this undead one – to be defined by a single moment, one that I had absolutely no control over.”

Just then, a thunderbolt struck nearby, the loud crackle made Ai instinctively  crouch under a table.

“...I don’t wanna be presuming anything or anything,” Saki offered a hand to help Ai get back up from under the table. “But Imma gonna guess it had something to do with lightning.”

“...It was a thunderstorm.” Ai’s voice and hand shook as she took Saki’s hand. “It wasn’t safe for the show to go on, not for my group or the fans. I protested to my manager, but he didn’t care; no one did.”

“The fuck.” Saki blinked, nonplussed. “Wouldn’t the fans, at least, be worried about their own lives?”

“Have you watched the news since we got back, Saki?” Ai laughed dryly. “Entire people protesting for the ‘right’ to infect themselves and other people with a deadly virus, just because they’re too lazy to wear masks or take other necessary precaution. They value blind obedience to authorities even more than their own lives! How do you reason with someone so stupid and twisted? You can’t, that’s what!”

“...You sounded angry and I don’t blame ya.” Saki said as she offered Ai a hand on the shoulder, which Ai gratefully clasped with her own. “I’d be pissed too if I were you...though, you have to admit, dying of a lightning strike in the middle of a concert is one helluva way to go. Peak metal, truly legendary.”

“Fuck off.” Ai laughed and mock punched Saki on the shoulder.

“The motherfuckers who killed you by forcing you to go on performing in the storm,” Saki asked after a nice moment of silent camaraderie between them. “Who are they?”

“...Better Living Industry.” Ai spat out that dreadful name with extreme venom and hatred. “BLInd.”

[¬º-°]¬

Sakura and Dr.-Death-Defying found Junko sitting in fetal position at a corner of the storage container.

“You really shouldn’t do that.” Dr. Death-defying said while Witch wiggled out from between Sakura’s arms and went to snuggle Junko instead; the dead girl didn’t respond to the furry delight. “You’re still technically dead, and might grow mushrooms if you stay in that dark and humid corner for too long.”

“Let me become a mushroom then.” Junko said desperately. “I just don’t care anymore. I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I was just on my way to Saga for a show. If my plane didn’t have the accident - ”

“It wasn’t an accident.” Dr. Death-Defying suddenly dropped the truth bomb.

“...What?” Junko and Sakura both blinked in surprise, while Witch quietly began to comb her hair.

“Your plane didn’t have an accident.” Dr. Death-Defying repeated while he set up an ancient analog TV and slide a tape into the player. “Watch this…” he hit the play button and the white noise gave way to:

“ _FATAL FLIGHT Season 69 Episode 420: Snakes? On **My** Plane? It’s More Likely Than You Think!“_

“Oops, wrong episode.” Dr. Death-Defying chuckled awkwardly as he fished for the right tape among the garbage in the storage room. “Like all mainstream media, the knowledge channels eventually gave way to sensationalized headlines and authoritarian propaganda in order to create a slave market that’d pay for the privileges of licking boots, but some of their older episodes were actually quite good…”

“...Among the victims of this tragic crash was a rising star of her time,” Junko’s face appeared on the screen when Dr. Death-Defying put in the right tape. “Her illustrious career unfortunately cut short…”

All of them fell silent while they watched the hour-long documentary, which concluded with a shot of Junko’s parents sitting silently before the courthouse: “Mr. and Mrs. Konno were among the many who believed that Better Living Industry was responsible for sabotaging the flight and thus their competitor, and while mounting evidence supported their claim, most of the victims’ families settled for financial compensation, leaving the aging couple abandoned and alone in their ongoing struggle to get justice.”

“ _H_ _aha_...” tears streaked down Junko’s face as she touched the fading image of her parents. _“Chichi…”_

“Your parents never got any justice,” Dr. Death-Defying said, almost coldly but not unkindly. “They died not even able to avenge their little girl...they died as just more victims of BLInd’s ‘progress’.”

“You think about that,” he left Junko crying her eyes out and stepped outside. “Princess Fussypants.”

“What the hell was up with that!?” Sakura growled when she caught up with him. “Dropping a news like that out of the blue is bad enough, why do you have to twist the knife? What’s wrong with you?”

Dr. Death-Defying didn’t answer, and all she heard was Witch’s purring as the kitty followed them.


	3. Saga of the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love won't stop this bomb!

#  ** Chapter  3 : Saga of the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W **

“ _Gravity don't mean too much to me,”_ the girls sang in yet another guerrilla concert, but at least this time they had a properly choreographed dance routine. _“_ _I'm who I've got to be, these pigs are after me, after you!”_ at this, they all reached their hands out toward the smattering of audience and a gathering force of armed police; in a city where people were constantly bombarded by advertisement, busking is somehow a high crime and misdemeanor. A cop fidgeted with his sidearm nervously and instinctively.

“ _Run away, like it was yesterday,”_ Ai did her best to carry the entire group while Junko was still having a hard time reconciling with her past in a dark and humid corner; it helped that Sakura had some vocal training and Lily could make up for her inexperience with enthusiasm, so Ai didn’t feel like she’s doing the whole show by herself. _“And we could run away, if we could run away, run away from here!”_

Just then, Lily tripped over and stumbled like she did many times during rehearsal; fortunately Yugiri was there to catch her and  help  her back on her feet, but it did mess up their entire dance routine,  despite the best effort of the other girls to stick to the plan.

“Sorry…” Lily said with tears in her eyes.

“It’s okay.” Yugiri smiled and hugged her.

The audience, however, wasn’t nearly as kind to this twelve-years-old.

“What the hell?” a man in a moe Hitler shirt shouted. “Did your Mom drop you when you’re a baby?”

“You bitches suck!” someone threw an empty can at the girls. “This is the worst song I’ve ever heard!”

“Why do you all wear masks?” a girl with heavy makeup sneered. “What’s wrong with your faces?”

“What the hell? That’s my line, asshole!” Saki growled as she pushed Ai aside and went to the front of the group. “You’re seriously gonna pick on a fucking twelve-years-old? What’s wrong with _you_?”

“Who are you, an Antifa terrorist or something?” the girl took a step back. “Did you just make a death threat against me? You must have, anyone who doesn’t sit down and take my abuse is oppressing me! As a cishet middle-class woman, I’m the most oppressed person in the entire universe!”

“Can’t a man have an opinion these days?” the ironic Nazi threw up his hands. “Free speech means I can say whatever I want to anyone I want, and they can’t ever talk back or they are Fascist Commies!”

“When I’m done with you,” Saki cracked her knuckles as blue veins appeared on her forehead, and the others were powerless to stop her from grabbing the moe Nazi by the collar and lifting him off his ass with one hand: “Fascist Commie would look like goddamn jelly unicorns, you fucking piece of shit!”

B ut before Saki could get to work on the Nazi, a new challenger appeared; three of them, to be exact.

“ _Move your body when the sunlight dies,”_ three young girls appeared on the giant flat screen across the street, wearing costumes in technicolors of red, blue, and purple. _“Everybody hide your body from the scarecrow,”_ they were backed up by a dozen of professional dancers, each of them wearing an identical blindfold that obscured their faces to the point that they were indistinguishable. _“Everybody hide!”_

“Now that’s what an idol group should be like!” the can-thrower exclaimed. “Just like how a game is nothing without crunch and a film is nothing without special effects, idols are nothing without backup dancers and expensive costumes! It’s all about how much money they invested in satisfying the fans!”

“Money?” Ai blinked, utterly horrified. “That’s your only criteria? How much money went into it?”

“We’re S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W,” the girl in red said at the end of the song, although unlike during the performance her expression was distant, disgusted even. “Brought to you by Better Living Industry.”

A bald man briefly appeared on the screen before the video ended, but it was enough to get Dr. Death-Defying away from the turntable, murmuring: “So that’s where you’ve been...you sold out as well…”

“BLInd kills people!” Sakura suddenly shouted into her headset, remembering the way Junko cried. “And you’re just going to support them because they have better stage decorations and PR team?”

“Nobody cares, bitch.” the most oppressed woman said, and the utter apathy in her tone made Saki blink. “Who cares if some kid dies in Africa because they couldn’t pull themselves up by their own bootstraps?”

“We just wanna have fun.” the Nazi fuck said, the complete void of his eyes made Saki let go and stumble back, as if she was face-to-face with an inhumane monster from another world. “So long as we have fun, we don’t give a fuck where our money goes.”

With the stunned silence that descended upon the girls, their only answer to this was Tae’s cackling, her muttered words growing louder and clearer with each day: “Bourgeoisie swines...meet St. Guillotine!”

[¬º-°]¬

“Korse.” the girl in bright red called out to the bald man as her group walked down the decorated stage.

“Garnet.” Korse nodded briskly at her direction, still looking at his smartphone. “What do you want?”

“My name is not - ” Garnet began, but Korse raised a hand to stop her, and he finally looked up at her.

“You don’t have names anymore; none of you does.” Korse said coldly and extremely unkindly. “No history, no family...only the bare minimal you need to work, and nothing that distracts you. Clear?”

“Can you at least tell me this:” Garnet asked exasperatingly, obviously tired of arguing the larger point with Korse. “How are we not dead? The last thing I remembered, I was on a train and then it all \- ”

“You _were_ dead.” Korse said and produced a piece of paper from his briefcase and handed it to Garnet. “But your employment contract doesn’t end with your death; in fact, your employment contract doesn’t end _ever_. It’s within our legal rights to bring you back and make you our properties after your death.”

“What the \- ” Garnet blinked, incredulous, as she read the fine prints for the first time, on a contract she signed when she was only sixteen. “This doesn’t make any fucking sense!” her hands trembled in rage.

“It doesn’t have to make sense,” Korse said, a trace of bitterness breaking through in his tone, but those two dead black buttons that passed for his eyes showed no emotion. “It just has to make us money.”

Garnet wanted to argue more, but the girl in blue grabbed her arms  and the girl in purple simply shook her head. In the end, they let Korse depart without further fanfare,  but Garnet was still furious at him.

“Dammit, Sapphire!” Garnet growled and slapped the girl in blue’s hand away from her. “You’re just gonna let the motherfuckers get away with it? Literally treating us like their own indentured servants?”

“What else can we do?” Sapphire sighed. “It’s how the world works. Can’t change it, can’t fight it, all you can do is sucking up to whoever is in power and hoping that they take mercy on you and yours.”

“That can’t be all there is,” Garnet insisted, shaking her head. “Come on, Amethyst, back me up here!”

“Maybe we can’t fight it,” Amethyst held her tiny hands into fist and said with wide-eyed adoration: “But when Destroya comes back to Battery City, they will defeat all the bad guys and save everyone!”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Amethyst, enough with this Destroya bullshit you read from that stupid Graffiti Bible!” Garnet shouted. “There’s no Destroya, no one will save us unless we fight for ourselves!”

“You read the same stupid book over and over too!” Amethyst raised her voice as well. “So what’s so different between my book and yours? Why is your escapist fantasy that much better than mine?”

“The difference,” Garnet drew in a deep breath and lowered her voice. “Is that my book was written by a lady who laid down her life for what she believed, not some swindler trying to fill a donation box!”

“Garnet!” Sapphire called out as Amethyst began to cry, but Garnet was already turning away from the two and going back to her private quarter, a capsule literally no bigger than a coffin. In the darkness of her prison, she couldn’t read her favorite book, so she merely clutched it with the same reverence of a faithful clinging to a holy book. The book – a pamphlet, really – was only a few pages, the manifesto of a legendary woman on why she risked being beheaded to assassinate the Crown Prince of Japan:

_Because I Want To_ , by Yamada Tae.

[¬º-°]¬

“ _How can they say: ‘Jenny, could you come back home?’”_ the girls sang together with Ai still taking the lead; they managed to persuade Junko to leave the bunker with them, but she still wouldn’t get out of the van. _“Cause everybody knows you don't, ever want to come back, let me be the one to save you!”_

“ _Heat burns my skin, never mind about the shape I'm in,”_ across the road on the big screen-walls of the three-stories manga shop, images of the three S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W girls looked down upon the people like a triumvirate of cyber-goddesses. “ _I'll keep you safe tonight, yeah, yeah, shut up and run with me!”_

“This is no good.” Dr. Death-Defying told Junko as he went back in the van to get more amplifiers in order to combat the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W. “Ai is very good, and the others are trying their best, but at this rate it’s just not gonna be enough; no one cares about the second best in this Capitalist shithole.”

A nd it’s true, the masses of passerby were much more interested in the shining colors and loud sounds from the flat screens than the genuine emotion s and heartfelt effort from the girls, because in the age of spectacle anything that can’t be quantified in dollars or follower count is necessarily worthless trash.

“Well, what do you expect me to do then?” Junko snapped, tears streaking down her cheeks again. “I’m just Princess Fussypants, right? I had a life that was taken from me, parents who never got any justice, and a new group that probably hates me...I’m just another victim, another statistic. What can I _do_?”

“So that’s it?” Dr. Death-Defying spread his hands. “You’re just gonna quit without a fight? Lay down and die again because life is too difficult? Give up on getting any justice because the enemy is too big to fall? Not even gonna try to make good with the girls because you’re too miserable to give a fuck?”

Just then, thunder clouds rumbled in the distance,  causing Ai  to visibly flinch and skip a beat; she  did recover quickly, but not  nearly  quick enough to stop  the other girls from looking at her with concern.

“I said, what the fuck do you want from me!?” Junko was past depression and went into shouting now.

“And I said, I want you to sing!” Dr. Death-Defying exclaimed and put a headset into her hands. “Just sing! Sing it from the heart, sing it ‘till you're nuts, sing it out for the ones that'll hate your guts!”

T he thunder clouds rumbled again, louder and nearer this time, and Ai flat out froze in  place , which in turn caused Lily to bump into her and fell, Yugiri not being close enough to catch her this time around.

“...What would be the point?” Junko asked quietly and looked down at the headset sitting in her hands.

“There is no point.” Dr. Death-Defying said. “And that’s why you raise your voice and shout out loud!”

Junko looked toward the girls, with Sakura scrambling to help Lily back on her feet while Saki shaking Ai to make sure she’s okay, and she made a decision: she put on the headset and stepped out of the van.

“You’re wrong, you know.” Junko said right before she went to join the others. “There is a point. These girls, they need me, whether they like it or not, whether they realize it or not. That is the point, for me.”

T he thunder clouds rumbled.

The girls talked urgently in hushed voices.

The heartless audience sneered and mocked the young girls.

The three S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W girls’ song went:  _“Love, love, love won't stop this, bomb, bomb, love won't stop this, bomb, bomb, love won't stop this, bomb! Run, run, bunny, run, run, run, bunny, run!”_

But when Junko drew in a deep breath and began to sing, her voice somehow cut through all the noises:

“ _And though I know how much you hate this,”_ she sang out with her eyes closed, feeling each word on her tongue and each note in her heart, utterly absorbed in this eternal moment, _“Are you going to be the one to save us from the black and hopeless feeling? Will you mean it when the end comes reeling?”_

“ _Hold your heart into this darkness,”_ Sakura steadied Lily with a hand on the little girl’s shoulder.

“ _Will it ever be the light to shine you out?”_ Lily gave Sakura her best smile as she pressed forward.

“ _Or fail and leave you stranded?”_ Yugiri smiled and put a hand onto Lily’s other shoulder as she sang.

“ _I'm not going to be the one left standing!”_ suddenly Tae sang out loud, her voice feral and very metal.

“ _You aren't going to be the one left standing!”_ Ai smiled apologetically at Dr. Death-Defying when she recovered, with Saki holding her hand to steady her: _“_ _We aren't going to be the ones left standing!”_

“ _Gravity don't mean too much to me,”_ the girls sang together, in perfect unison, not because a manager bribed them with money or a governor threatened them with laws, but because they felt solidarity with each other, a feeling they never had before. _“_ _Is this our destiny? This world is after me, after you!”_

“ _Run away, like it was yesterday,”_ the girls all balled their hands up into fists and raised them high into the air, and at that one timeless moment they didn’t care if anyone liked their singing, they didn’t care if they’re dead and zombies, the song was all that mattered, the moment was all that mattered, because for the first time in their lives – _both_ lives - they were the authors of their own stories and destiny, instead of just a consumer or spectator. “ _And we could run away, run away, run away, run away from here!”_

“ _Yeah! Away from here, away from here!”_

[¬º-°]¬

“You assured me you would get everything under control.” Samael said, unamused. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened.” Korse insisted, sweating. “S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W is a resounding success. They’ve already topped every charts out there for the week. No one is even talking about the Killjoys-wannabe.”

“Someone is.” Samael showed a tweet of someone raving about “the new Killjoys”, which had a grand total of 2 likes and 1 retweet. “Someone is not no one. And I want no one to be paying them attention.”

“Just a few malcontents.” Korse said. “Hell, it’s probably one malcontent who liked their own tweet.”

“One malcontent is one too many.” Samael said coldly. “I’m not an Anarchist, Korse; I’m a Capitalist. We don’t want a free market; we want a slave market hooked on our supply and obeying our demands.”

“And even just one person who doesn’t fall in line,” Kosre said sarcastically. “Is one person too many.”

“That’s right.” Samael nodded, utterly immune to sarcasm. “We must control our market like the kings of yoke controlling the peasantry: with no tolerance to any dissident or disobedience we don’t control.”

“You sell them stories of rebellion and revolution,” realization and horror dawned on Korse’s face as he spoke. “Approved and signed by the ruling class, always ending in forgiveness instead of judgment.”

“And now you’re getting it.” Samael said with a broad and feral grin. “The aristocrats and secret police never died; we just rebranded as entrepreneurs and politicians. Nothing changed, and nothing will.”

“And we’re all but your humble servants,” Korse said with resignation in his voice. “For all eternity.”

“Now you know your place.” Samael turned away from Korse and checked his watch. “Make sure there’s no issue with the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W going forward, or someone will be _scrapped_.”

“Yes sir.” Korse bowed.


	4. Saga of the Summertime Cafe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now we are the kids from yesterday...

#  ** Chapter  4 : Saga of the  Summertime  Cafe **

“ _And if you stay, I would even wait all night,”_ the girls were singing in the cafe owned by the one (1) person who dared to rave about them on social media: a woman named Valerie “Val” Velocity, who had invited them to perform at her establishment “The Summertime”. _“_ _Or until my heart explodes, how long until we_ _f_ _ind our way in the dark and out of harm? You can run away with me anytime you want!”_

“Excellent show, my lovelies.” Val said as she led the girls to sit down at one of the larger tables. “Feel free to order anything you girls want; it’s on the house. And yes, this is in addition to your payment.”

“Thank you, Miss Velocity.” Sakura smiled and thanked Val on behalf of all the girls. They were still wearing their masks and using their codenames, just like everyone else in the cafe: evidently, it’s one of the places where people who fashioned themselves after the Killjoys gather. While Dr. Death-Defying did encourage the girls to go out and see the world – with a word of caution against being detected by BLInd, of course – he himself refused to enter a place he thought to cheapen his friends’ memories.

“Good afternoon, guests.” the waitress came with menus to take their orders. “What can I get you?”

“Well, I - ” Sakura began, blinked, and startled when she saw that the waitress was a dead-ringer to the lead singer of the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, the girl in red; she was also wearing a Killjoy mask to fit in with the clientele. “What - ” all the other girls tensed up as well.

“Oh, is this your first time talking to a Host?” Val blinked and then laughed good-naturedlly. “Well, I don’t blame you; they aren’t exactly common outside Battery City, if you can find them outside at all.”

“A Host?” Saki echoed questioningly, despite being distracted by a biker gang that had just entered the cafe; their leader, a girl they call Maria, seemed oddly familiar, but Saki was sure they had never met.

“Fancy name for an android.” Val explained. “They host a core that contains the software they need to function. Red here -” she indicated the android waitress. “Runs on the most basic hospitality modules.”

“What about the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W?” Junko asked. “I find it hard to believe that such a performance was delivered by machines.” Then again, she could hardly believe you could fit a computer in one palm.

“Oh, you’d be surprised.” Val said with a lopsided grin. “But nah, you’re probably right; those three are probably fitted with replicas of actual human minds; megacorps spend a lot of money to license those.”

“And people are okay with this?” Ai asked, horrified. “Lives being bought and sold as merchandise?”

“Well, what can we do?” Val shrugged. “All the real Kiljoys are dead; we’re all just LARPing here.”

The girls fell silent.

“Well, I’ll be in the kitchen if you girls need me.” Val said as she waled away from the table and left.

[¬º-°]¬

“Excuse me?” Sakura called out when she spotted the “Red” model Host again. “Can you get Lily a - ”

But Sakura paused when she saw that instead of a maid uniform like all the waitresses in the cafe, this Host was wearing a stage costume of bright technicolor, just like the two that followed behind her.

“S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W.” Ai said severely, and all the girls tensed up again. “What are you doing here?”

“Market research.” Garnet spread her hands and said in a dejected tone. “Our manager wants us to steal what little fans you girls have, and he figured that this is as good a place as any for that purpose.”

“Nothing personal, ladies.” Sapphire said with an apologetic smile. “It’s just business, nothing more.”

“Just business, huh?” Saki snorted. “And what business is that? Crush all resistance with an iron fist?”

“I thought you’re singers,” Yugiri’s sarcasm was implacable with her relaxed tone. “Not the _kempeitai_.”

The temperature between the two groups dropped below the freezing point, Amethyst was at the verge of tears from the tension, while Tae began cackling ominously again at the mention of the  _kempeitai_ .

“Lily just wants ice cream.” Lily suddenly said, before turning to Amethyst and asked: “Want some?”

“Yes – yes.” Amethyst blinked her tears away and broke into a shy smile at the offering of ice cream.

“Look,” Garnet threw her hands up in a placating gesture. “The truth is, we fully intend to slack off and not do what we’re told since our manager is away on some errand, so why don’t we call it a truce?”

“Sounds good to me.” Saki shrugged. “So tell me...what does it feel like to be Astro Boys? Or Girls?”

“Not as cool as you’d think.” Garnet grinned. “Would be 100% cooler if we can actually fly and stuff.”

[¬º-°]¬

“Well, it’s about time we head back.” Garnet announced after checking her internal clock. “Before we leave, I just have one question for you girls:” she bridged her hands, “What’s you endgame, really?”

“How do you mean?” Sakura asked, tilting her head to one side quizzically. “What’s our endgame?”

“Let’s say our manager’s plan doesn’t work out.” Sapphire said. “That we don’t crush you girls into oblivion. Then what? Do you go mainstream, become like us? How would that change anything?”

“No mainstream.” Ai shook her head. “We’re our DJ’s passion project, and frankly we like it that way.”

“But how would that change anything?” Amethyst echoed the question. “BLInd would still be running Battery City, Saga, and the industry; you can’t change that by singing. Isn’t it all kind of pointless?”

“Acts of resistance are never pointless.” Junko said, remembering. “I felt it myself: when I forget about the charts and the critics, I get to love singing again, like when I started, when I first became an idol.”

“...I envy you.” Garnet said simply.

“What about you?” Saki threw the question back at the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W. “After you crush us, what then? Go find some new talent to destroy? Go on a world tour and spread the gospel of the BLInd?”

“That’s just flat-out impossible.” Amethyst said gloomily. “After all, we can’t even leave Battery City.”

“What?” Lily blinked at her temporary ice cream buddy. “Why not?”

“How do you think we’re powered?” Sapphire said. “The wireless transmission that powers our Host bodies only covers Battery City; we literally can’t leave without dropping dead at the edge of the city.”

“That’s barbaric.” Yugiri said with a rare frown. “I thought people had centuries to outgrow slavery and indentured servitude.”

“Oh, it’s only slavery if there are slavers with whips.” Garnet said with a smile, but there was only rage in it. “It’s not slavery if they just unplug your life support and leave you to die if you don’t work.”

“An illusion of progress,” Tae suddenly said with perfect clarity and lucidity. “We don’t yet know what we are.” but then she fell back to ominous cackle afterwards.

“Well, I guess this is it then!” Garnet stood up and patted down her dress for any bread crumbs. 

“After we go through the door, we’ll be enemies again.” Sapphire said, “If we meet again at all.”

“It’s nice talking to you though.” Amethyst beamed holding Lily’s hands. “Good luck to you all.”

“If things were different - ” Sakura said suddenly. “If we had met under different circumstances - ”

But the S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W girls were already out of the door.

“Now this one is from DJ Cherri Cola, right before he and his boyfriend Dr. Death-Defying disappeared when the Fabulous Four died,” Val explained as she turned on the radio, “It’s tears of a bygone era, the last surviving work of one of the last _real_ Killjoys, not one of us LARPers with our Nerf guns.”

“ _And you only live forever in the lights you make,”_ the patrons grunted their agreements to Val’s sentiment as the radio began to sing, _“_ _W_ _hen we were young, we used to say,_ _t_ _hat you only hear the music when your heart begins to break,”_

“ _Now we are the kids from yesterday...”_


	5. Saga of the Invisible Women

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The only hope for me is you...

#  **Chapter 5: Saga of the Invisible Women**

“Lily?” Yugiri called out to the little girl, whom was apparently distracted by the TV midway through practice. “What are you watching?”

“The police had arrested an Antifa terrorist,” the anchoress on the screen droned on. “Armed with a milkshake and extremely dangerous…”

The screen showed a mug shot of the “Antifa terrorist”, a man with a bald head like Korse, but bulky and extremely muscular; the news gave his name as Go Takeo.

“Pappy?” Lily blinked her large soulful eyes and pointed to the man on the screen. “It’s pappy!”

“Pappy?” Saki asked as she and the other girls came over to check out why the two were slacking off. “Hold on shrimpy, are you telling me this giant hunk of muscle is -”

“Lily’s daddy!” the little girl said brightly.

“I thought you said we don’t have any living relatives left.” Sakura asked Dr. Death-Defying, whom was joining them just now.

“You don’t; I checked.” Dr. Death-Defying checked his tablet. “This man’s last known address is now a shopping mall, and the construction company he used to work for is now an identical shopping mall.”

“He had been arrested,” Junko said fearfully, “On the charge of - ”

“Vandalizing.” Ai blinked, incredulous. “Since when is vandalizing a crime worthy of news coverage?”

“That’s where you’re wrong, kid.” Dr. Death-Defying adjusted his sunglasses, which conveniently hid his expression. “When the message of the vandal is something people in power agree with, it’s a minor misdemeanor at worst and a work of art at best; when the message is something privileged people don’t agree with, then the mere existence of the message is high treason and a crime against the human race.”

“Something is only political and thus undesirable when privileged people disagree with the message,” Dr. Death-Defying concluded as the news showed the man’s graffiti. “And his message is very political and undesirable indeed, because those in power had painstakingly brainwashed people to believe so.”

On the screen, the graffiti was only a few simple words, a sentence that terrified the British parliament and drew out racists, ableists, homophobes, and misogynists masquerading as Feminists like no other:

**SHUT THE FUCK UP TERF**

[¬º-°]¬

“So lemme get this straight, Shrimpy.” Saki cupped her chin as she processed everything Lily and Dr. Death-Defying had been telling everyone while they were driving in the van. “You real name was…?”

“…Go Masao.” Lily said in a flat monotone. “And it’s not Lily’s real name, it’s Lily’s deadname.”

“...What I wanna know is,” Saki began with an extremely serious expression on her face, but couldn't maintain it and burst out into laughter. “How can a name sound so badass, it’s fucking legendary!”

“It’s not funny!” Lily protested, pouting adorably. “Saki’s just a big meanie! Lily hates you so much!”

“Now, now.” Dr. Death-Defying said, placating, but even he couldn’t keep the chuckle out of his voice. “Just to keep everyone up to speed, Lily was assigned male at birth by a doctor because of the incessant need of Mom and Dad to sort kids into boxes. This assignment is totally arbitrary since biological sexes exist on a spectrum just like genders do; there are people whose physical sex is ambiguous, and people with genes atypical for their physical sex, etc. All of them are collectively known as intersex, because suddenly Mom and Dad are not so interested in boxes anymore when there’s no money involved.”

“But Lily is a girl,” Lily balled her hands up into fists while Yugiri stroke her hair. “And Lily knew it!”

“Indeed.” Dr. Death-Defying nodded. “Just ‘cause we don’t understand how it works yet doesn’t mean it’s not real, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean we should be jerks about it. After all, everyone is different and we all look at the world in different ways; so-called ‘materialists’ or ‘rationalists’ who would reject anything they don’t understand as false are really as superstitious and irrational as someone who would believe anything Evangelists say on TV, the only difference being that instead of cherry-picking quotes from the Bible to justify their bullshit, these people pick and choose only the facts and logic they like.”

“This is all very new to me,” Junko mused, but not unkindly. “I’ve never heard of someone like Lily.”

“It’s not new.” Yugiri said suddenly, and all eyes in the van converged on her; even Dr. Death-Defying spared her a glance while driving. “I’ve worked with women like Lily in my time, which was what, two centuries ago? We didn’t always know to call them women, but we knew they were not men either...not exactly. But, like me and my coworkers, women like Lily had always been invisible, our existences and even rights erased from history because the people in power didn’t think we’re fit for civilized society.”

The venom with which Yugiri spoke the last line was so different from her usual relaxed tone, everyone was stunned into utter silence; Yugiri took a long pull on her pipe to calm herself before continuing:

“I was executed by the _kempeitai_ because I, a sordid woman, dared to ask the civilized society for more voice and more rights.” she said, “You brought me back after two hundred years, and you know what I think of human progress in all this time? One word: bullshit. That’s it. You had not one, but _two_ World Wars, you invented all this fancy televisions and cellphones we didn’t have in out time, but so what? Women like me still can’t practice our craft without being shunned by polite company and harassed by police, and women like Lily still can’t just _exist_ without small-minded people crying bloody murder.”

Silence descended again, more severe and contemplative than the last time. Finally, Dr. Death-Defying broke it when he parked the van on the side of the road and drew a pistol from the glove compartment.

“Here we go, girls.” he told them while he put a brand new battery into the gun. “Remember the plan.”

[¬º-°]¬

“...Why did you do it?” Korse sat down across the table from the bigger man in the interrogation room. “You’ve committed what, dozens of vandalism by now? Always the same message...you must know it’s useless. No one is listening to you; nobody cares about you or what you have to say. If anything, your refusal to play by the rules may have turned some people against your cause. So why did you do it?”

“...Where’s my lawyer?” Lily’s Dad, Takeo, asked. “Where are the cops?”

“You’re out of luck pal.” Korse said with a humorless smile. “You targeted BLInd property. The local precinct is happy to let me handle you for them...and they got paid for it, too.” he lit a cigarette, pulled on it, _and then_ offered it to Lily’s Dad; the accused man didn’t move. “So talk to me. Who knows, if I like your answer, maybe I’ll let you walk free. You’re far too old to be one of them Killjoys, even if any of them had survived...and they didn’t. I personally made sure of it. Got paid handsomely for it, too.”

“...Why did I do it?” Takeo half-laughed, half-cried, the end result sounded like the dying howl of some enormous beast. “You motherfuckers, you always assume there’s a cause, a reason, that everyone wants something, because that’s all you fucwits know: you have it all, but you wanted more, so you made up dogwhistles like meritocracy or materialism to justify why some people deserved to be under your feet forever, and you corrupt genuine causes like Feminism or Communism into being just another excuse for genocide, no different from Fascism or Capitalism. You want to know why I did it, sick bastard?”

“BECAUSE YOU KILLED MY LITTLE GIRL!” he growled like an angry bear and leaped onto the table. “No, you didn’t have the guts to kill her with your own two hands; you civilized people are too fucking chickentshit for it.” he snarled as he reached out for Korse’s neck with a pair of giant palms. “So you made me do it. You made me kill my own little girl. You made me think she’s actually a boy. You made me believe she didn’t need all the help that she needed to survive. You made sure I don’t even know it’s possible that she can be saved, that I never even get to know my own daughter before she died. You want to know why I did it, you disgusting piece of human shit stain?”

“Why do black people march on the streets of America, risking getting shot by the cops and demonized as terrorists by media?” Takeo’s voice lowered to a rumble as he squeezed Korse’s throat, squeezed the air out of his lungs and lights out of his eyes. “Do you think they do it for fun and profit? No, they do it for the same reason I do: desperation. Because we had nothing left. Because there’s nothing else left on this god-forsaken Earth that we want, after you’ve taken from us everything we ever cared about!”

“You want to know why I did it, you motherfucker?” Lily’s Dad repeated, maniacal, fervent, as Korse’s larynx almost broke beneath his powerful hands. “BECAUSE YOU KILLED MY LITTLE GIRL!”

But before he could kill the representative from BLInd, a familiar voice from outside made him let go:

“Lily…?”

[¬º-°]¬

“ _Remember me...remember me…”_ Lily’s voice rang out through the loudspeakers Dr. Death-Defying had set up just across the street from the police station, where the girls were performing their latest guerrilla concert. _“Where, where will you stand, When all the lights go out, across these city streets?”_

“ _Where were you when all of the embers fell?”_ Dr. Death-Defying doubled-checked his gun before he knocked out a cop with a pistol-whip and sneaked into the station from the back door. “ _I still remember them:_ _c_ _overed in ash, covered in glass,_ _c_ _overed in all my friends, I still...think of the bombs they built!”_

“ _If there's a place that I could be,_ _t_ _hen I'd be another memory,”_ the plan was simple: the girls would do another impromptu performance to distract the police while Dr. Death-Defying went to rescue Lily’s Dad; Lily volunteered to lead. _“Can I be the only hope for you? Because you're the only hope for me!”_

“ _And if we can't find where we belong, we'll have to make it on our own,”_ Dr. Death-Defying found Takeo kneeling on a Korse that was laying on his back spread-eagle, and motioned for the Dad to go ahead and leave. “ _Face all the pain and take it on, because the only hope for me is you, alone!”_

“Who are you?” Lily’s Dad asked. “Who is singing? Is it…? No, it couldn’t be...it just couldn’t be…!”

“Explain later; run first.” Dr. Death-Defying said and gave the Dad a pat on the back to rush him along, but he himself nevertheless spared Korse a glance; the agent of BLInd widened his eyes when he saw Dr. Death-Defying, but nothing came out of his throat except an ugly and incoherent gurgling noise.

“So I see this is where the great Cherri Cola been all this time: just another bloody sellout.” Dr. Death-Defying spat and pointed his gun at Korse. “I should kill you where you stand...or lay, I guess. I really fucking should.” but he didn’t; instead, he lowered his gun. “It’s you, innit? You’re the one who tipped BLInd off, got the girl and the Four killed.” he walked over to Korse and kicked the son of a bitch on his bald head. “Well, I hope you enjoy your cars, and your dogs, and your famous friends, Judas scum.”

[¬º-°]¬

“ _How would you be,_ _m_ _any years after the disasters that we've seen?”_ Lily was still singing when Dr. Death-Defying led her Dad out of the station and toward the van, a little out of breath but otherwise putting up an outstanding show. _“What have we learned, other than people burn in purifying flame?”_

“ _I'll say it's okay, I know you can tell,”_ Lily broke off from the group as soon as she saw her Dad, and Ai took over without complaining; in fact everyone was smiling when the man gathered his daughter into a heartfelt bear hug. _“And though you can see me smile, I still...think of the guns they sell!”_

“Pappy!” Lily called out excitedly, her voice coming out in a high-pitched squeal. “It’s Lily!”

“ _The only hope for me, the only hope for me is you…”_

“Lily,” tears filled the man’s eyes as he embraced his daughter. “I can’t believe it, it’s a miracle…”

“ _The only hope for me is you, the only hope for me is you…”_

“Nah, just good old necromancy.” Dr. Death-Defying grinned. “Highly illegal but very effective.”

“ _The only hope for me is you, the only hope is…”_

And then the cop shot Lily’s Dad in the back.

“ _Alone.”_


	6. Saga of the Steel Rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Save yourself, I'll hold them back tonight!

#  ** Chapter  6 : Saga of the  Steel Rebellion **

Sapphire was already gone when Korse was done with the cops. Garnet was punching and kicking the walls in a fit of rage, while Amethyst cried her eyes out and soaked her precious Graffiti Bible in tears.

“What happened?” Korse asked raising an eyebrow, so Garnet threw a phone at his face, hard enough to give him a concussion if he didn’t catch it. He read the article displayed on the phone screen, but it had nothing to do with Sapphire or S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W; instead, it’s a story about how Lily’s Dad was shot by the police before he subsequently disappeared with what the media termed “the new Killjoys”.

“Read the comments.” Garnet said simply when Korse shot her a quizzical look, so he did; it’s mostly just a bunch gamers and weebs being transphobic by calling a twelve-years-old a trap or tranny or any number of other slurs that they throw around like candies, along with some moe Nazis and toxic fans saying that Lily’s Dad deserved to die for being an Antifa terrorist. However, among all the mindless toxicity and revolting childishness, Korse saw a comment left by one Sapphire (S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W):

“ _Would you people knock it off? This is a little girl and her Father you’re talking about, Jesus Christ!”_

“Oh shit oh fuck.” Korse covered his face with one hand when he realized the implication of this line.

“That’s right,” Garnet said in a mocking tone. “Samael called. Told Sapphire that she shouldn’t make political statements; that it would make our shit-eating, baby-fucking fanbase upset. But Sapphire, you see, she’s old-school; she doesn’t consider things like human rights or basic decency to be political, so she - the most cowardly and selfish one of us, I might add \- put up a fight. And they, ah, _scrapped_ her.”

“They killed her!” Amethyst yelled. “They killed her for telling people to be nice, for asking people to stop being mean! What had the world came to, when being bullies is free speech and being considerate is a death sentence? None of this makes any sense! Just wait until Destroya comes back, they will - ”

“Oh for crying out loud!” Garnet grabbed the Graffiti Bible from Amethyst’s clinging hands and torn it into pieces. “Shut the fuck up about your stupid fairy tales! No one is coming to save us, no one gives a fuck about us except ourselves! Hell, I bet this mofo made up Destroya so you’d wait instead of fight!”

“Garnet,” Korse threw up his hands in a placating gesture when Garnet threw the pieces of the Graffiti Bible at his face and grabbed his collar, while Amethyst cried louder in the background: “Calm down.”

“Oh, I’m calm.” Garnet snarled as she used the confusion to draw Korse’s pistol out of his pants pocket and pointed it at his head. “I’m cool as a motherfucking cucumber here, the coolest shit I’ve seen.”

“Garnet,” Korse repeated, his voice lower and more severe this time, as he slowly reached a hand out to Garnet, while Amethyst stopped crying and looked on with wide-eyed terror. “Give it back, _right now_.”

“Fuck you, Korse!” Garnet laughed – she _laughed_ – as she pulled the trigger, even if Korse had already grabbed and twisted her arm, even if the gun was no longer pointed at him...even if it hit her instead.

“What -” Korse blinked while battery fluid leaked out of Garnet and soaked both of them. “- Why?”

“Because,” Garnet laughed again, weakly but defiantly, as she put a hand onto Korse’s cheek. “There is something worth more than money, or life, or anything else in the world; because there is that one last inch that we should never lose, or sell, or give away; something a sellout like you will never have…”

“But ultimately,” she sighed contentedly as she closed her eyes and died again. “It’s because I want to.”

A methyst’s quiet sobbing was the  only sound left in the room.

[¬º-°]¬

“Get out.” Dr. Death-Defying said hurriedly as he stopped his car in front of what looked like a normal apartment building, instead of their underground bunker. “Room 420. She’ll tell you what to do next.”

“You can’t just leave us here!” Sakura blinked and spoke up for the girls, who were all busy comforting Lily. “There must be something you can do for Lily’s Dad! You brought us back, surely you can also -”

“I hope you're ready for a firefight,” Dr. Death-Defying turned around and glared at Sakura. “'Cause the devil's got your number now!” he punched the wheel and drew in a deep breath to calm himself down. “They’ve made us. We all know this day is coming, but thanks to that trigger-happy pig, they made us way sooner than I expected. They’ve already figured out who Lily is, it won’t be long before they are at our doorsteps; the bunker is burned, you girls can’t go back there, it wouldn’t be safe for you to do so.”

“And it would be safe for _you_?” Sakura scowled and asked, but Dr. Death-Defying didn’t answer her. 

“Remember, Sakura:” Dr. Death-Defying finally said, after everyone else was out of the van and the car doors were locked tight. “We're believers, I believe tonight; if you sing these words, we'll never die.”

“Hold on, ‘we’?” Sakura frowned when she noticed the change in subject. “Don’t you mean ‘they’?”

“Just save yourselves,” Dr. Death-Defying said as he started the car. “I'll hold them back tonight!”

“No!” Sakura cried when she realized what Dr. Death-Defying wanted to do, but he was already gone. After sulking for a while, Sakura pulled herself together and the girls went to room 420 as instructed.

“Who the fuck are you?” a young girl, who looked to be about the same age as Saki when she died, glared at the group; even inside her house, she was wearing biker leather so black it’s almost shining. 

“Who is it, Maria?” a middle-aged woman, presumably the young girl’s mother, called out as she came to the door as well, and her face fell when she saw the group and said urgently: “Come in, _right now_!”

O f all the zombie girls, only Saki hesitated to go into the apartment. The Mother sighed, grabbed Saki by the wrist, and practically dragged the former biker queen into the room, and Saki just let her do it.

“Get your paws off me, Reiko.” Saki said with mock anger, but her voice was weak and there’s none of her usual force of personality. “Where the hell have you been all this time? That Dr. D clown said -”

“I could ask you the same thing, after you gone and got yourself killed and left me to fend for myself.” the Mother, Reiko, said with some venom, but then she sighed: “The truth is, I couldn’t bring myself to face you. I should have talked you out of it...should have insisted. If only I had been more adamant…”

“I did what I had to.” Saki said guiltily and avoided Reiko’s gaze. “They insulted you...my girlfriend. I had to call them out, challenge them, or we’ll just be a buncha dykes for them to laugh at.”

“I know, I know.” Reiko said as she combed Saki’s hair with one hand and then cupped Saki’s chin to make the biker queen face her. “That’s the thing, though: you were _my_ girlfriend, too. And I just let you die in that chicken race...because I was too much of a chickenshit to stand up for myself. Saki, I…”

Just then, their faces were close enough for them to smell each other’s breath, just like in the old times -

“A-hem.” Reiko’s daughter, Maria, cleared her throat, loudly and deliberately. “ _Mom!_ ”

T he two broke off with an awkward laugh.

“So uh,” Saki blushed and made a swishing motion with both of her hands. “I guess you... _dual-wield_?”

“I made that baby girl of mine with the help of a husband, if that’s what you’re asking.” Reiko said with a chuckle. “And yes, I _do_ love him as well, so please don’t ask me which one of you I love more.”

“Do I look like the jealous type?” Saki threw her hands up dramatically. “Jeez!”

“Now come on,” Reiko’s expression became serious. “There’s something that can help you end this.”

[¬º-°]¬

“Are y'all ready where you are?” Korse asked into the camera Dr. Death-Defying had set up outside the bunker, before he raised his gun and shot it out with a laser beam. “Cause we're coming for you now!”

“You’re never leaving this place alive.” he said and made his way into the mass of shipping containers.

“ _We can leave this world, leave it all behind,”_ the singing voice of the girls came from around a corner, so Korse rounded it and opened fire. _“_ _We can steal this car if your folks don't mind,”_ but it turned out to be just a tape recording. _“_ _We can live forever if you've got the time..._ _i_ _f you save yourself, tonight!”_

“I'll tell you all how the story ends,” Korse said as he stepped into Dr. Death-Defying’s studio, the place where he wrote all the songs and music. “Where the good guys die and the bad guys win.”

“Who cares? This ain't about all the friends you made.” Dr. Death-Defying said when he came into the room behind Korse, the gun in his hand charged and ready. “But the graffiti they write on your grave.”

“Inui.” Korse said with a brisk nod, his gun pointed at the dead center of Dr. Death-Defying’s heart.

“Cherri Cola.” Dr. Death-Defying pointed his gun at Korse’s bald head instead. “I know you taught us all to aim for the heart, but I’m not sure if you still have one, so I figure I’d aim for the brain instead.”

“You're unbelievable, so unbelievable! You ruin everything!” Korse spat. “When are you gonna grow out of these stupid names and masks and make-believes, Inui? It’s time for you to grow the fuck up! Become part of the system like a responsible adult! You can’t be a rebellious teen for all of eternity!”

“ _You keep eternity, give us the radio.”_ Dr. Death-Defying said. “Isn’t that what Party Poison always said? Do you remember them at all, Cherri Cola? Do you sleep well, knowing what you’ve done?”

“Party Poison is dead.” Korse grimaced. “Jet-Star, Fun Ghoul, and the Kobra Kid...all dead. Because they refused to grow up. Because they won’t get on with the fucking program. Just like you, Inui.”

“If your program is about oppressing people who are different in the pretty names of meritocracy and Capitalism while all you’re doing is the same old genocidal bullshit as the Fascists and the dictators,” Dr. Death-Defying said with determination in his voice. “Then hell no I won’t ever get on with it.”

They both pulled the triggers.

“...Goodnite, Dr. Death.” Korse said as Witch appeared to lick the blood off Dr. Death-Defying’s face.

[¬º-°]¬

“ _If my velocity starts to make you sweat, then just_ _d_ _on't let go!”_ the radio on Maria’s bike blasted while the girls traveled with her biker gang Steel Rebellion, with each girl having her arms around one of the bikers; not Saki, though, Saki could ride her own bike, with Ai’s arms tightly around her. waist “ _A_ _nd if their Heaven ain't got a vacancy, then we_ _j_ _ust, then we just, then we just, then we just get up and go!”_

“ _Look alive, sunshine!”_ the radio said smugly instead when Sakura changed the channel to Dr. Death-Defying’s pirate radio. “ _109 in the sky, but the pigs won't quit, you're here with me, Dr. Death-Defying._ ”

“...This is a recording.” Sakura frowned with tears in her eyes. “Dr. D said he’d be broadcasting live if everything went okay. It it’s playing a recording than it must mean that BLInd got to him, that he’s…”

“How do you know it’s a recording?” Maria asked curiously, but Sakura answered only with a frown.

“I remember it from - ” Sakura began, but just then a truck with a BLInd logo in the front T-boned Maria’s bike, sending both of them flying toward the concrete. Before they could even hit the road, exterminators wearing identical masks jumped out of the truck and opened fire on the bikers and girls. 

“Maria!” Reiko screamed as she rushed to get Maria out of harm’s way, while everyone else scrambled for cover on their own. “Maria, talk to me…!” Reiko cried as her daughter’s body grew cold and brain matter leaked out of the young girl’s shattered skull. “Don’t leave me…!”

N ot Sakura, though, since that hit from the truck scramble d something in side her brain, and she remembered her past in flashes of sounds and images and smells and textures -

“ _I'll be your surgeon, your proctor, your helicopter.”_ Dr. Death-Defying said on the radio, _“_ _Pumping out the slaughtermatic sounds to keep you alive, a system failure for the masses, antimatter for the - ”_

“Well, I’m going to the audition!” Sakura waved goodbye and stepped out. “Wish me luck, Dads!”

Inside the house, Sakura’s not one, not two, not three, but _four_ Dads waved back, with their masks and their guns and their drugs, Dr. Death-Defying broadcasting on the radio with his newest hit single -

\- Then she was hit by a truck with a BLInd logo in the front, and the shooting and killing started.

“It was me...I was the girl…!” midst the chaos and the gunfire Sakura sat, wide-eyed and remembering, finally _remembering_ : “I was the girl...the Four died to protect...the Killjoys all died...because of me…!”


	7. Saga of the Destroya of Worlds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Against the Sun we're the enemy!

#  ** Chapter  7 : Saga of the  Destroya of Worlds **

_"Look alive, sunshine! 109 in the sky, but the pigs won't quit, you're here with me, Dr. Death-Defying. I'll be_ _your_ _surgeon, your proctor, your helicopter. Pumping out the slaughtermatic sounds to keep you alive, a system failure for the masses, antimatter for the master plan, louder than God's revolver and twice as shiny! This one's for all you rock 'n rollers, all you crash queens and motor babies, listen up!"_

“Well, I’m going to the audition!” Sakura waved goodbye and stepped out. “Wish me luck, Dads!”

Inside the house, Sakura’s not two, not three, but  _four_ Dads waved back  and smile behind the masks .

“Break a leg, kid!” Party Poison said.

“Break _both_ legs!” Jet-Star doubled down.

“You guys are so unoriginal.” Fun Ghoul laughed.

“Shut up, you three!” Kobra Kid sheeshed. “It’s about to begin!”

“ _The future is bulletproof! The aftermath is secondary!”_ Dr. Death-Defying said on the radio. _“It’s time to do it now and do it loud! Killjoys, make some noise!”_

As if on cue , a loud noise came from the front of the house,  so Jet-Star went out to see what happened, only to find Sakura lying in a puddle of her own blood  before of a truck with a BLInd logo on it.

“Sakura!” 

Jet-Star moved to check on Sakura, but the exterminators at the back of the truck shoot him dead before he could take a single step; then they proceeded to open fire on the house, killing Fun Ghoul as well. 

“Goddammit, they’ve made us!” Party Poison growled as he grabbed his gun. “How did they find us? How do they even know we’re here? No one even knows that Sakura is with us, how could they - ”

Gunshots ran out from the back of the house, and Kobra Kid dropped dead at Party Poison’s feet. Party Poison turned and saw Agent Cherri Cola, one of their fellow Killjoys and the best shot in Battery City.

“Cherri Cola, you Judas!” Party Poison shouted as he opened fire on Cherri Cola, only for the gun to be knocked out of his hands with a well-aimed shot. “You sold us out!” he glared at the sellout furiously.

“For a handsome price too; definitely more than thirty pieces of silver.” Cherri Cola said with a toothy grin. “It’s not too late to get on with the program; we can always use more traitors, to show people how resistance is futile, how being assimilated into our egalitarian meritocracy is the only way forward.”

“If we were all like you in the end, oh, we'd be killing ourselves by sleeping in!” Party Poison laughed defiantly and spat in Cherri Cola’s eyes. “So keep your cars, and your dogs, and your famous friends!”

“I wanted to say ’keep running’…” Cherri Cola gritted his teeth as he stabbed Party Poison’s chin with the tip of his gun. “But there’s nowhere left to run; we own this world now. It’s the end of the Killjoys.”

Then  Korse shot the last Killjoy in  the face.

[¬º-°]¬

“What do you mean, you’re the girl?” Saki asked while Reiko led the girls into a tunnel that goes deep underground, leaving the bikers to hold off the exterminators. “And are you sure you’re okay, Reiko?”

“I was living with the Fabulous Four,” Sakura explained. “They were like my family...they _were_ my family. Sure we didn’t have a lot, but we had enough, and we were free...until BLInd came along.”

“Same old story for everyone in Battery City.” Reiko said clenching her fists. “We were all just living our lives, doing the best we can...until BLInd came and told us we need more money so we can buy the newest phone, a big fucking television, and the latest entry in an ancient franchise...and in order to pay for them, we need to root out anyone who isn’t ‘productive’, anyone who isn’t cishet or doesn’t belong to the majority ethnicity of their city, anyone with mental or physical illness that ‘unfairly’ taxes the healthcare system...they told us we need to put bleach into the food for homeless people and strip sex workers of their protection, but no, we can’t call them Fascists or tyrants because they’re too chickenshit to say what they want to your faces, they’re just Capitalists or rational people who want to debate whether you should exist or not.” she punched the wall. “And now they killed my little girl!”

Up ahead in the tunnel was something too enormous to be seen in its entirety, even with the half dozen of flashlights the girls had in their hands. It’s humanoid, metallic, and extremely imposing. If there was a word for it, then the only one would be “mecha”, like something from an anime or a Del Toro movie.

“What...is this?” Sakura asked the question they all had when they saw the giant machine before them.

“They call it Destroya.” Reiko rummaged inside a cabinet and produced a manual. “BLInd built it, but then they scrapped it and hid it here so no one could use it against them. Dr. D showed me the manual, thinking my experience with bikes would help me understand how it works, but I couldn’t make heads or tails with it.” surprising everyone, she handed the manual to the youngest person present: Lily.

“Um, she’s only twelve years old.” Junko pointed out. “Shouldn’t we let someone older figure it out?”

“According to this,” Lily began after studying the manual for a few minutes: “This machine needs six pilots, one for each arm, leg, the sensors, and central coordination.” noticing how everyone’s looking at her with various degrees of impressed expression, she “hmphed” and said: “Lily learned a lot about big machines from Pappy!” then, remembering her Dad, she became dejected and depressed: “Pappy…”

“I understand you’re sad, Lily.” Sakura smiled and patted the little girl on the head. “We all are. These people took something from each and every one of us. That’s why we need to end this, so they can’t hurt anyone else.” she cupped Lily’s face in her hands. “Can you help us, Lily? For your Pappy?”

“Yes – yes.” Lily sniffled, wiped her eyes, and went back to work. “The machine has one last principal component,” she continued after a few more minutes of study. “A core, to provide it with the energy it needs to operate. The core has to be…” she frowned. “...A person? This...this can’t possibly be real…!”

“What is it, Lily?” Sakura asked as Lily’s hands trembled. “What do you mean, it has to be a person?”

“A person...has to be the core.” Lily said in a shaking voice. “And that person...will die from doing it.”

“Lily’s right.” Reiko concluded after double-checking the manual. “A person has to be the core, and power the machine with their spirit; once their spirit is used up, that person simply...ceases to exist.”

“Motherfucker!” Saki growled as she kicked the cabinet over. “If that Dr. D isn’t already dead, Imma gonna kill the sonuvabitch myself!” she punched at the walls. “This is why there are seven of us in the first place! Not because he need us to sing or anything; because he needs one of us to be the battery!”

“There must be a way around this,” Ai said, gasping. “It doesn’t have to be one of us. Maybe it doesn’t even have to be a person at all; we could use an animal...a lot of animals...there must be a better way!“

“It has to be a person.” Lily said quietly. “The manual said only people have spirits that can be used.”

“And it can’t be just anyone, either.” Reiko added. “From these reports, the project was scrapped since the person at the core still preserves a measure of personality and control until they’re burned up...they can’t control the machine, but they can fight the pilots, so all the unwilling sacrifices made by BLInd just led to a series of extremely expensive failures. The core has to someone willing...a volunteer.”

“I’ll do it.” someone said and everyone turned to look; it was Tae. “Howdy, strangers.” Tae grinned as she put a cigarette between her lips and borrowed a light from Yugiri. “I volunteer.” she said it again.

“Do you even understand what it means?” Junko said urgently, almost pleading. “You will die again! You might not come back from it! Wherever we were before Dr. D brought us back...you won’t even go there! You could be gone forever! Just darkness and silence and _nothing_ , for all eternity! It’s horrible!”

“Eh, doesn’t sound like a big deal to me.” Tae laughed and pulled on her cigarette. “Listen up, doll: I don’t fear nothing, as I know life is nothing. We were nothing before we’re born, and we’ll be nothing after we die. All of this?” she span the cigarette around in her hand for emphasis. “Just a charade; a lie we tell ourselves to get through the day: they will tell you why they are better than you and deserve to walk all over you in increasingly sophisticated ways, from God-given right to big data analysis, but it’s all horseshit: they start with the conclusion and went back to find ways to justify their selfishness.”

“And you know what?” Tae laughed again, a genuine, heartfelt laughter. “I’m fine with it. No, really, I am! I don’t care if you wanna be the God Emperor or Chief Executive Overlord, I don’t care if you are a white supremacist or a transphobe, it’s no skin off my back. You know what’s the one thing I do hate, though?” her face suddenly twisted into a mask of hatred and disgust. “It’s hypocrisy. Transphobes who wanna bully kids like Lily and call it Feminism, Nazi fucks who talk about gassing Jews and then hide behind ‘lol just kidding’. I don’t care if you’re an evil piece of shit, but at least have the guts to own up to it. Seeing all these people, these self-masturbatory chickenshits, who reinvented Feudalism and call it Social Darwinism or smuggled Capitalism into Anarchism and call it Anarcho-Capitalism...I’m so fucking sick of it I could vomit all day until I die, and these mofos just multiplied while I was dead.”

“So you see, I don’t fear nothingness.” Tae concluded to an audience stunned by her sudden verbosity and the radical ideas she expressed. “I love nothingness. Gimme nothingness over hypocrisy any day.”

O ne by one, the girls came to hug Tae, solemnly and almost reverently. Lily, who was helping Reiko to set up and prime Destroya, was the last one to do so, and they practically needed to pry her off Tae.

“Don’t you go feel bad or indebted to me or anything,” Tae said with a bright smile as she took one last pull on her cigarette and walked into the core. “Because ultimately, I’m doing this because I want to.”

[¬º-°]¬

Korse returned with a heavy heart, having just killed his ex-boyfriend and arguably the last Killjoy, to find Amethyst waiting for him in a chair; she held some kind of package in one hand, and instead of the Graffiti Bible that was torn up by Garnet, in her other hand she held the autobiography of some crazy woman who was beheaded for trying and failing to assassinate the Crown Prince of Japan. He sighed.

“I don’t have time for your tantrums.” he said irritably as he went to get more batteries for his gun. “Inui’s little girl band has escaped to the mountains; I need to find them before their trail grows cold, so just be a good girl and - ” he opened the cabinets to find all the batteries were gone. “...Amethyst?”

“...She’s right, you know.” Amethyst said, quietly dangerous and dangerously quiet. “Garnet was.”

“Garnet is dead.” Korse snarled. “And you will be too, if you don’t tell me what did you did with the -”

He drew in a deep breath when Amethyst raised the package in her right hand for him to see: all the batteries from the cabinets, wired with a few  other ingredients into a n improvised explosive device.

“Amethyst,” Korse said urgently, and only slightly fearfully. _Really_. “Put it down, right fucking _now_!”

“No.” Amethyst said simply. “We’ve been ruled by fear for far too long. And I didn’t mean the fear of being canceled because you’re a bigot online; I meant _real_ fear, fear that if you stand up to power and have the wrong skin color you will be summarily executed, fear that if you stay true to yourself some fake Feminist online will encourage people to harass you and rape you and murder you, fear that if you don’t laugh at the people you’re told to laugh at and suck up to the people they told you to suck up to you’ll lose your job and your pension and your livelihood, and I’m just so fucking sick of it, all of it!”

“Amethyst - ” Korse began, but Amethyst simply shouted him down.

“They all think calling people tranny or faggot or retard or nigger is so fucking funny, they have one fucking helicopter joke that they regurgitate endlessly and they think you’re the snowflake if you don’t laugh at their stupid bullshit jokes to satisfy their fragile self-esteem!” Amethyst shouted, holding Sapphire’s phone with all the vitriolic messages and personal attacks Sapphire received because she spoke up for Lily, “They complain endlessly about being canceled by the radical left, but they made politically incorrect comedy into a fucking industry, a buncha cishet white trash duebro mofos circlejerking in their echo chambers, making a shitload of money by whining about being victims of cancel culture while they made vulnerable people into victims of actual violence!”

“Amethyst!” Korse shouted, almost pleading, but she was no longer listening.

“They laugh, I don't think it's funny!” Amethyst snarled. “I’m become Death, the Destroya of worlds!”

Then she pulled the pin and let the world explode.

“ _Destroya, Destroya, Destroya…_ _”_ the radio sang in the background. _“Against the Sun we’re the enemy!”_


	8. Saga of the Fabulous Killjoys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killjoys, make some noise!

#  ** Chapter  8 : Saga of the  Fabulous Killjoys **

“ _And right here, right now,_ _a_ _ll the way in Battery City,”_ Dr. Death-Defying’s voice streamed out of the giant loudspeakers mounted on Destroya’s shoulders. _“The little children raise their open filthy palms, like tiny daggers up to heaven!”_ Destoya raised its arms high into the sky, and inside its palms was an giant electric guitar scaled to the size of a giant robot. _“And all the juvie halls, and the Ritalin rats,”_

“Oh shit oh fuck - ” Samael, the BLInd CEO, stared at Destroya with an expression of abject horror.

“ _Ask angels made from neon and fucking garbage,_ _s_ _cream out, ‘What will save us?’”_ Destroya swung the gigantic guitar like an axe at the BLInd headquarters in Battery City, _“And the sky opened up - ”_

“ _Everybody wants to change the world, everybody wants to change the world,”_ the voices of the girls streamed out of the loudspeaker as Destroya swung again, again, and again, cutting down skyscrapers like a metal wood-cutter mowing down trees made of concrete. _“But no one, no one wants to die!”_

“Where the fuck is Korse!?” Samael screamed. “He’s hired to deal with all of this Killjoy nonsense!”

“ _Wanna try, wanna try,”_ Destroya’s motion stopped, and the cockpit clicked open to reveal the girls inside. _“_ _Wanna try, wanna try now,”_ a bridge extended from the cockpit and the girls walked down onto the exposed top floor of the BLInd headquarters, singing all the while: _“I'll be your detonator!”_

“I’m sorry - ” Samael began pathetically.

“ _Make no apology!”_ the girls sang out.

“Just don’t kill me - ” Samael begged,

“ _It's death or victory!”_ they clicked their heels.

“I’m a very powerful man - ” Samael told them.

“ _On my authority!”_ the girls kicked and their feet landed squarely on Samael. _“Crash and burn, young and loaded!”_ the powerful man reeled in pain and fell quiet for a moment. _“Drop like a bullet shell!”_ the girls kept singing _,_ as if he’s invisible, as if he wasn’t even there at all. “ _Dress like a sleeper cell!”_

“I have been living for a very long time now,” Samael said. “I can bring you back to life; not this shitty half-life, I mean actual life! I can make you live forever, just like I do; think of all the possibilities!”

“ _I'd rather go to Hell,”_ the girls answered with a song and a look of disdain, _“Than be in purgatory!”_

“ _Cut my hair, gag and bore me,”_ a motorcycle rushed out of Destroya’s cockpit, carrying Reiko on it.

“This is for my daughter and Lily’s Father.” Reiko snarled as he grabbed Samael’s collar and shoved a grenade into his mouth. “As well as Dr. Death-Defying, and God knows how many innocent victims!”

“ _Pull this pin, let this world explode!”_

[¬º-°]¬

“Welp,” Party Poison shrugged. “I guess not even Dr. Death-Defying himself can defy death forever.”

“Eh?” Dr.-Death-Defying rubbed his blinking eyes, and there they were: the Fabulous Four in the flesh. 

“Wakey-wakey, sleepy head.” Fun Ghoul clapped his hands. “Or should I call you dead head instead?” 

“Shouldn’t it be more like…” Jet-Star cupped his chin and grinned broadly: “...Look alive, sunshine!”

“Oh, that’s a good one!” Kobra Kid laughed good-naturedly. “Man, I wish I had thought of it myself!”

“How are you alive?” Dr. Death-Defying adjusted his sunglasses. “...No, you’re not. Which means - ”

“Hiya, Dr. Death.” a voice came from behind Dr. Death-Defying, and he turned around to see Korse, but Korse still had his head of messy hair, and his smile was easy and kind instead of bitter and cold.

“Korse.” Dr. Death-Defying said tightly and fished for his gun, but it was nowhere to be found. “You -”

“What’s wrong, Dr. Death?” Korse asked with genuine concern in his voice. “It’s me, Cherri Cola.”

Cherri Cola gathered Dr. Death-Defying into a powerful bear hug and gave him a deep kiss on the lips.

“...None of this is real.” Dr.-Death-Defying laughed. “But God, how I missed you guys...all of you…”

“Thank...you…” Dr. Death-Defying smiled and patted the black cat on the head: “Phoenix...Witch…”

“Say,” Cherri Cola said after he finally broke off from the kiss. “I just wrote a new song. Wanna hear?”

“Of course! We’re always ready for good tunes.” Party Poison whistled. “Lay it on us, DJ Cherri Cola!”

“So it goes like this…”

“ _Cause you only live forever in the lights you make,”_ Cherri Cola’s soft voice echoed in Inui’s ears, “ _When we were young, we used to say,_ _t_ _hat you only hear the music when your heart begins to break,”_

And the good doctor and disk jockey finally stopped defying death and closed his eyes for the last time.

“ _Now we are the kids from yesterday...”_

[¬º-°]¬

The girls went back to the bunker  to f in d Witch licking the wound on Dr. Death-Defying’s chest. At least she wasn’t eating him... _yet_ . Sakura took off his sunglasses and  found his face a mask of serenity .

“So…” Ai began. “Now what?”

No one answered. No one had an answer.

“Nyow,” a voice suddenly said, one that they had never heard before, a voice that was strange and yet somehow familiar, startling all of them and made them jump to their feet. “You’re the Killjoys.”

Standing before them was, for lack of a better world, a catgirl, with long black hair and a pair of matching cat ears on her head. She was wearing the traditional garment of a shrine maiden, white blouse and red skirt, with a black cat tail sticking out of her bottom and swinging behind her back.

“What the - ” Saki blinked. 

“I’m the Phoenix Witch.” the Phoenix Witch bowed. “It is through my magic that Inui – the one you knew as Dr. Death-Defying – was able to defy death and bring you back to the world of the living.”

“Phoenix - ” Lily blinked and then realized: “- Witch. You’re Witch. Dr. D’s kitty!”

“Actually, it’s more like he was my human, but let’s not get bogged down in semantics.” the Phoenix Witch covered her lower face with a sleeve and laughed a noble woman’s laugh: _ho ho ho ho!_ “The Killjoys may be dead in this world, but their spirits lived on in music, and the music lived on in you.”

“If we sing this song,” Sakura whispered, almost like praying. “They’ll never die.”

“Just so.” the Phoenix Witch handed the girls a box, inside were the masks of the Fabulous Four: Party Poison, Jet-Star, Fun Ghoul, Kobra Kid, and the fifth one: “This,” she said, “Belonged to Cherri Cola.”

“Wasn’t he the one who killed Dr. D?” Junko asked. “We saw the security tapes. It was dreadful…!”

“ _Korse_ killed Inui.” the Phoenix Witch said. “Korse was Cherri Cola...for a while. But Cherri Cola is not Korse. Just like each of these masks, Cherri Cola is merely an idea, a call to action, which will only be realized when someone not only wears the mask, but also endeavor to embody the spirit within.”

“Cherri Cola had been dead for a long time before Korse took off this mask.” the Phoenix Witch picked up the mask, the other four too, and pushed them toward the girls, the new Killjoys. “But just like any other idea, so long as someone is willing to remember them, to embody them...they never actually die.”

After a moment of hesitation, each of the girls took a mask, with  Cherri Cola  going to Junko.

“I betrayed your trust once,” she explained. “This is to remind me to not do it again.”

“What about Sakura?” Yugiri asked. “There are six of us left. There are only five masks here.”

“Nah, I think I’ll be fine.” Sakura smiled as she put on Dr. Death-Defying’s sunglasses. “So listen up!”

“The future is bulletproof! The aftermath is secondary!” Sakura raised her arms high in the air in a V-pose as the music started to play. “It’s time to do it now and do it loud!”

“Killjoys, make some noise!”


End file.
